Plan Colombia and the Mérida Initiative represented an unprecedented effort by Washington to stabilize fragile democracies in Latin America by shoring up the Colombian and Mexican security forces, respectively. From Peril to Partnership evaluates the extent to which the US government achieved its stabilization objectives. US assistance was more helpful to Colombia than Mexico, which adopted a more militarized approach. This book highlights the importance of the private sector, party system, and security bureaucracy in facilitating progress-and how their absence obstructs it.
Angelo M. Codevilla Book order
Angelo M. Codevilla was a professor of international relations at Boston University. His work focused on international relations from the perspectives of history and national character. He previously served in the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Foreign Service, and on the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. During his tenure at Stanford's Hoover Institution, he wrote books on war, intelligence, and the character of nations.






- 2024
- 2023
The Ruling Class
- 184 pages
- 7 hours of reading
The book explores the widespread sentiment among Americans regarding the Ruling Class, highlighting feelings of dehumanization, economic hardship, and moral decline caused by this elite group. It delves into the public's desire for change and the growing frustration with the current power dynamics. Through analysis and commentary, it addresses the implications of these perceptions and the potential for a collective movement against the ruling elite.
- 2022
America's Rise and Fall among Nations
- 288 pages
- 11 hours of reading
Minding our own business,while leaving other peoples to mind theirs, was the basis of the United States'successful foreign policy from 1815 to 1910. Best described in the works ofJohn Quincy Adams and carried out by his successors throughout the nineteenth century,this is the foreign policy by which America grew prosperous and in peace. Thispolicy also remains the commonsense philosophy of most Americans today. America's Rise and Fallamong Nations contrasts this original "America First" foreign policy with theprinciples and results of the following hundred years of "progressive" foreign policywhich suddenly arrived with the election of Woodrow Wilson as president in 1912.The author explains why the many fruitless American wars--large and small--which followedWilson's conduct of World War I always resulted in a failed peace and oftenmore conflicts abroad and also the loss of the domestic peace each failurecaused among Americans. Finally, America's Rise and Fallamong Nations examines how John Quincy Adams's insights are applicable to ourcurrent domestic and international environments and exemplify what "AmericaFirst" can mean in our time. They chart a clear path to escape America's previouseleven disastrous decades of so-called "progressive" international relations.
- 2014
To Make and Keep Peace Among Ourselves and with All Nations
- 248 pages
- 9 hours of reading
The book explores the complexities of achieving and maintaining peace in America, highlighting the government's expanding powers linked to its challenges in engaging in and winning wars. Angelo Codevilla argues that both statesmen and academics have neglected critical discussions about war and peace. His aim is to reignite these essential conversations, encouraging a reevaluation of strategies for securing lasting peace in contemporary society.
- 2006
War
- 320 pages
- 12 hours of reading
This book explores the causes, operations, endings, and justifications of war. In the process, it demolishes many currently fashionable illusions, such as that peace is always preferable to war, that wars occur because of accidents or misunderstandings, and that technology changes the nature of war.